The current study sought to characterize maternal substance use during pregnancy in a sample of women at high familial risk for substance use disorders in comparison to women with low familial risk and to examine the relative contribution of prenatal exposure to alcohol or cigarettes and a family history of alcohol dependence on offspring substance use outcomes. Both high- and low-risk women decreased their substance use across trimesters, a pattern previously reported in other studies (Fried et al 1985; Robles and Day, 1990; Hill et al., 2000). Women with a family history of SUD are significantly more likely to use alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs of abuse during pregnancy, and consume greater quantities of these substances than women without a family history. This finding has important implications for public health and highlights the importance of obtaining information on family history of SUD, as well as the mother’s pattern of substance use prior to pregnancy recognition, to determine the relative risk of maternal substance use during pregnancy.
